Synopses & Reviews
Long renowned as one of the smartest writers on the loose, David Foster Wallace reveals himself in Consider the Lobster to be also one of the funniest. In these pages he ranges far and farther in his search for the original, the curious, or the merely mystifying. His quest takes him into the three-ring circus of a presidential race to ask, among other urgent questions, why it is that the circles journalists walk in while whispering into their cell phones are always counterclockwise. He discovers the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the Maine Lobster Festival and confronts the inevitable question just beyond the butter-or-cocktail-sauce quandary. He plunges into the wars among dictionary writers, deconstructing once and for all the battles between descriptivists and prescriptivists. And he talks his way into an LA radio studio, bearing buckets of fried chicken, to get an uncensored view of a conservative talk show and its alarmingly attired host.
Review
"Another savory, hard-thinking, wildly imaginative collection of essays and observations from the artful Wallace." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Wallace's complex essays are written, and rightfully so, to be read more than once." Mark Eleveld, Booklist
Review
"Watching Wallace play his outrage meter is a little like watching John McEnroe complain about a line call: It's not always the accuracy of the claim that keeps you caring, but the hysterics with which it's expressed." Boston Globe
Review
"Like his best fiction, it reminds the reader of both his copious literary gifts and his keen sense of the absurdities of contemporary life in America at the cusp of the millennium." Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Review
"Wallace is so smart and clever that he can make almost any subject seem fresh." Baltimore Sun
Review
"Wallace is unique, a writer who combines dense academic theory with a reporter's observations and a soaring, guitar-riff style." Christian Science Monitor
Synopsis
This celebrated collection of essays from the author of Infinite Jest is "brilliantly entertaining...Consider the Lobster proves once more why Wallace should be regarded as this generation's best comic writer" (Cleveland Plain Dealer).
Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person?
David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures. Whether covering the three-ring circus of John McCain's 2000 presidential race, plunging into the wars between dictionary writers, or confronting the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the annual Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his and a voice as powerful and distinct as any in American letters.
"Wallace can do sad, funny, silly, heartbreaking, and absurd with equal ease; he can even do them all at once." --Michiko Kakutani, New York Times
Synopsis
Do lobsters feel pain? Did Franz Kafka have a funny bone? What is John Updike's deal, anyway? And what happens when adult video starlets meet their fans in person? David Foster Wallace answers these questions and more in essays that are also enthralling narrative adventures. Whether covering the three-ring circus of a vicious presidential race, plunging into the wars between dictionary writers, or confronting the World's Largest Lobster Cooker at the annual Maine Lobster Festival, Wallace projects a quality of thought that is uniquely his and a voice as powerful and distinct as any in American letters.
About the Author
David Foster Wallace is the author of several highly acclaimed books, including the novel Infinite Jest and the essay collection Consider the Lobster. He has been the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, a National Magazine Award, and numerous other awards.